My own civilization

I’ve never been much of a PC gamer. Most of my video game experiences since the beginning have been with consoles. However, there has been one magical computer game that has held my attention for 8 years.

In between playing the newest big release, it has always been there; waiting for me patiently untill I ease back into the driver’s seat. Or, more appropriately, the throne.

Civilization is the name, and conquering the world is the game. It is a turn based strategy game in which you take the position of world leaders throughout history and attempt have your nation survive and thrive.

I’ve been playing sense the third installment, and a copy of Civilization V sits comfortably on my shelf. Over the course of the years, I have logged more hours in this crack-pipe of a game more than any other.

Part of it comes from being a history buff. There is something about building your society from scratch at the dawn of time and leading it to victory in the modern era that is mind-bendingly addictive.

Courtesy of Arstechnica.com

It’s not just a matter of building armies and fighting. You can win by advancing into space through science, or making friends for a diplomatic victory. You can refine the arts and win culturally, or raise your army and obliterate enemies in a storm of righteous hell fire.

The game’s strategy shows a lot about yourself. For example, you need luxury and strategic resources in order to have nice things in your empire. People criticize governments for being imperialistic when it comes to natural resources, but when you are given crap land right from the start, and you are a war away from having what your people need, its tough to play nice.

Being able to assume the role of so many civilizations and leaders is very cool, and can also be amusing. The world is randomized at the start of each game, with different variables that don’t mirror actual history. As a result, you could see the Iroquois become a superpower and conquer America.

It’s almost like an open strategy game. The freedom of being able to have a communist revolution if you wish, or declare war on your friendly neighbor just for fun, is intoxicating. If you have a gazillion hours free, I highly recommend picking up Civ V and give ruling a country a spin.

4 Responses

Civilization was the first pc game I played as well in 1992 and still love it. The second pc game I played was X-Com, so imagin my surprise when I found out that Firaxis is making the remake of X-Com. You should look at some videos of it. Good artical